"Weeks before the car got on the track. we were told by one of the aero guys that we would be two seconds quicker than anyone else. I knew we'd made a number of big steps over the cars we'd done before, but even so, we'd had two years of dogs, and I thought the bloody aerodynamicists had got their numbers wrong again."

"Button took a £5m pay cut at the beginning of the season to help the Brawn team, who had risen from the ashes of Honda. He is believed to anticipate, at the very least, a return to the £8m level he had originally been promised for 2009. Button said yesterday that he wanted to stay with Brawn, having been with the team in its various forms since 2003."

Ross Brawn: "We had a team of people who worked through a whole winter – 60 or 70 hours a week or whatever it took – not knowing if they had a future. It's been an exceptional experience, seeing people who were facing being put out on the street but didn't give up. There were days when I went home thinking it wasn't going to happen. But we had a management group of five people who saw no alternative but to find a solution. We all got down about it occasionally, but fortunately not at the same time."

"Donington management are hopeful that news of Walker's appointment, which was hurried out on Monday night, will help secure the full £135 million they are seeking from a bond issue launched last week."

"Who is the best? I don’t know, but I am sure Jenson would like to test himself alongside Hamilton in the same car. In fact, if Kimi Raikkonen has not yet signed for McLaren, then it would be great to see the two British drivers together. It would add excitement to the sport. Schumacher, for example, damaged his reputation by not racing against a top team-mate, whereas we remember the great internal rivalries between Prost and Senna, Mansell and Piquet."

"Following today’s meeting to agree procedures for the upcoming FIA elections, Ari Vatanen has withdrawn his court application."One of the points the FIA conceded was that voters would be able to mark their ballots in secrecy, to avoid coercion. It really shouldn't have needed the threat of court action to make them concede that point.

"With the world distracted by Button, Hamilton was able to quietly slip into the Morumbi cemetery when Senna is laid – and offer a few thoughts for his idol. 'It's an awesome place, very simple, just a plaque. For me it was special,' said Hamilton about his visit. 'It was only a matter of time before I did it.'"

This Donington bond issue is a mess. That Telegraph article says the return to investors has been promised at 15%, which means the track has to make nearly £5m profit a year for the next seven years. Meanwhile Silverstone has recently announced its 2008 profits at £660k, which is regarded as pretty decent.